DC Comics loves a good ghostbreaker. Some have long careers, even get movies. Others lurk in out-of-way places like in the back pages of old Horror comic books. It is into such a dark and dusty place we venture today….
Mister E appeared eleven times in Secrets of Haunted House #31-41 (December 1980-October 1981). Of all the DC ghostbreakers, the blind detective is late to the game. Only John Constantine is later, appearing in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985). Consider all that came before with the very first of them all, Dr. Occult in 1935. (Not to mention The Phantom Stranger, Dr. Thirteen, Johnny Peril and Dr. Geist). A lot of doctors but few MDs.
The man from Boston who always says: “I am blind. But not blind to evil…” was created by Bob Rozakis and Jack C. Harris. Rozakis wrote the stories with art by Dan Spiegle. Having the same creators each issue gives this series a nice consistency that some series lack. (Dan Spiegle was never one of my favorite artists. His monsters are not inspired. The Rich Buckler covers are better.)
“The Twice-Cursed Man!” (Secrets of Haunted House #31, December 1980) has Kelly O’Toole of Dublin arrive in Boston. She finds an old man in need of help. He proves to be Judge Kobold, who offers her employment as his housekeeper. Mister E mysteriously follows her trail to the house, where he confronts Kobold as the one committing the murders in the news. Kelly knocks out E before seeing that Kobold is a vampire. The Irish lass manages to stake the Judge as he fights with the occult detective. He flees into the night, after turning into a werewolf. He is cursed both as a vampire and a werewolf.
“Those Who Pass Judgment!” (Secrets of Haunted House #32, January 1981) starts with a flashback to the witch trials in Salem. The judge is Kobold. We see how he became a werewolf. Jump forward to our time. Kelly is now working as Mister E’s secretary. Judge Kobold shows up to take revenge. He becomes a werewolf but Mister E is ready for him, shoots him with silver bullets. The ghostly spirit of Kobold flees, promising revenge.
“Of Death and Life and Voodoo Drums!” (Secrets of Haunted House #33, February 1981) has Mr. Vanderwater being blackmailed by his driver, Borge, who has a recording of a voodoo ceremony that can bring the dead back. Borge threatens to bring Vanderwater’s brother, Thomas, back if he doesn’t get a million dollars. Vanderwater goes to Mister E, who insists under no circumstance pay the money. When confronted Borge plays the tape, resurrecting Thomas who screams in agony. But the jig is up. The whole set-up is a fraud as real zombies begin to rise. Both Borge and his accomplice fall to their deaths.
“The Left Hand Never Knows…” (Secrets of Haunted House #34, March 1981) begins with a man meeting his lover. His wife is knocking on the door when Frankenstein’s monster kills the man. The cops won’t believe her but Mister E does. He tracks down the creature, tries to kill it by shooting it. This doesn’t work. E uses an acid to dissolve the monster’s stitches and his head falls off. The cops are confused, looking for two killers based on fingerprints. The headless body possesses both sets of fingerprints.
“The Lair of Lady Frankenstein!” (Secrets of Haunted House #35, April 1981) continues the last segment, with the undertaker, Mr. Adams, arrested. He is the man who is paid to dispose of the unwanted corpses that the police discover. He is charged as a ghoul who dismembered the two criminals used to make the monster. He calls Mister E and is soon freed. We learn the real culprit is Paul Martinelli, Adams’ employee. He drives a new coffin and corpse to his buyer, Lady Frankenstein. Mister E pops out of the coffin and confronts them. The cops clean up.
“Demon Spell!” (Secrets of Haunted House #36, May 1981) starts with a boy and girl wanting to see Mister E because their father is conjuring demons in the basement. Kelly goes along on this one, dressed in a deerstalker and cape. Mister E confronts the man and helps him finish the ceremony, causing the demon (that looks like a giant chameleon) to explode. Turns out dad is a librarian at the Boston Library. He caught wind of a coven planning to conjure Asmodeus. By doing a parallel conjuring, he confounded their attempt to destroy Boston with the demon. This one feels like it was inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror”.
“The Third Wish is Death!” (Secrets of Haunted House #37, June 1981) has an old Irish woman arrested by the cops for theft. She claims the stolen stuff was given to her by Liam the Leprechaun, who has granted her three wishes. Mister E waits for the sprite to reappear before he catches and him. He makes Lian grant the third wish: that none of this had ever happened. Irish references run throughout the series, though this is by far the most Irish of the lot.
“Conglomerate of Evil!” (Secrets of Haunted House #38, July 1981) has Mister E interrupt a cabal of evil, rich men, one Japanese, one German and one Arab. After the three capture the intruder, E claims one of them is a twice-cursed man. They laugh before the Japanese man turns into a werewolf and kills the others. The cops show up in time to save Mister E who tied to a chair.
“The Witch-Hounds of Salem!” (Secrets of Haunted House #39, August 1981) has David Neu reading Cotton Mather before a dog mysteriously jumps through his window. This dog leaves before a second, larger one appears. Mister E shows up in time to send that dog out the window. A cop tells David that he is being haunted by the Witch-Hounds of Salem, two beasts hung in 1681. Neu doesn’t believe any of this but when E shows up again the two kill the larger dog. Unfortunately, the second one is making nice with Kelly O’Toole.
“The Were-Witch of Boston!” (Secrets of Haunted House #40, September 1981) gives research credit to Laura Rozakis. Kelly is home and her new doggie turns into a beast behind her back. David Neu shows up. Mister E has hired him to help Kelly with his historical work and do more research on the witch-hounds. Puppy strikes! David tries silver bullets but the thing isn’t really a werewolf. He manages to get it out the window and re-hangs it with the cord around its neck.
“The Blood Curse of Maule’s Well!” (Secrets of Haunted House #41, October 1981) begins when the local water all turns to blood. It is connected with an old legend that the Pyncheon family stole the land from Mathew Maule. Each Pyncheon heir died as if drowning in blood. David and Kelly go to the old well to try and help Mister E solve the mystery. They find Mathew Maule, who tries to force them to drink the blood. Mister E shows up and saves them. As David and Kelly return home, David and E explain it is all from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The House of Seven Gables (1851). This is the last of the series, with E and his team gathered for more adventures that didn’t come.
Conclusion
Secrets of Haunted House went on to five more issues after Mister E’s last appearance, to die like all the other DC Horror anthology comics. The introduction of a series character had failed to prolong its existence as had “I, Vampire” and “The Creature Commandos” in sister comics. DC would not abandon occult detectives in the 1980s. In 1985, John Constantine would appear for a very successful run by Alan Moore that would end with Keanu Reeves playing John in a movie. (More recently, we saw The Sandman TV show featuring Lady Johanna Constantine, a character Gaiman invented in honor of Moore.)
But we haven’t seen the last of Mister E with the passing of SOHH. He returns along with the other famous occult detectives of DC in The Trenchcoat Brigade (1999) written by John Ney Rieber. As with so many comic book characters, they pause their careers, fade into the background like ghosts, only to reappear in another time or decade. What could be more appropriate for a character who is such a Mister E….
